They, I’ve read, are the country’s leading authority on Child Protection, with ChildLine for children, NSPCC for adults, and reports being commissioned by the government. They hold the golden ticket to getting noticed thanks to the amount of money they receive. Good for them. I really mean it. But I don’t see them using enough of their influence for the PREVENTION of child abuse. A website is not enough. Is it? Please feel free to disagree in the comments.

So,…

What is PREVENTION of child abuse?

How can we PREVENT child abuse?

When can we PREVENT child abuse?

WHAT: Prevention of child abuse is making it so so that a child is NEVER ABUSED.

HOW: We must put aside our laziness and ignorance and GET EDUCATED!

WHEN: We need to START NOW!

We need to integrate this training into our childrens’ curriculum; there need to be community workshops that are made to be fun and exciting and educational and those who are versed in safety training need to spread awareness and knowledge. Don’t keep it to yourselves.

We’ve become such an insular society. Not only as a whole, but individually. Sharing with your neighbours, being a community of citizens who look out for each other and our children is something that is dwindling fast – much to the pleasure of pedofiles and child abusers, I’m sure! Only a crisis brings people together, it seems, where normally people don’t speak to each other. We need to change this.

Kids who’ve been abused deserve more than governmental reports. They deserve a roadmap of where to go to from where they’re at with the required support. Most importantly, they need to be heard and they need to see their perpetrators brought to justice.

In America, right now, there is a fight to bring the state of Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations to a fair period of time. The Americans really know how to fight for justice. Where are our British equals? If that’s you, me,… let’s change the way of the people so that abuse can no longer be ignored, or swept under the rug, or left for someone else to deal with.

Let’s help to give survivors a road to somewhere safe.

Let’s help to pave a safe and happy path for our innocent children.

Let’s help to create a world where we are all responsible for our childrens’ security.

This is not always possible – for victims to tell someone they trust. Once abused, who can they trust? How do they know who they can trust once their trust has been violated? More likely than not, they’ve been told that those who they can trust either already know about the abuse (it’s a lie) and that they’re not to be trusted (it’s a lie). Statistics tell us that more often than not (around 80%) it’s people they thought they could trust who perpetrated the crime.

The only way to get the message across to children is to spend time educating them from a very young age about what is and is not okay, so that if anything, the signs of abuse will become evident and teachers, parents and carers will become more astute in recognising the signs of abuse. Leaving it to the parents or the school is not enough. The schools must do their part in educating the children outside of the family home and parents need to educate the children outside of the school environment. It’s so important that everyone associated with each child is vigilant. If a child is socially and developmentally happy – child psychology – then it is more than likely that they are happy and safe at home and outside of the school environment. If they are playing up, trying to get attention, not learning to their capabilities, then surely someone must be thinking something’s not right. And to take a child’s word (albeit mostly true – but kids are known to lie to protect those who care for them, who they love, who love them) that nothing’s wrong and everything’s fine is not enough. I’m not saying that they’re being abused at home, and they might not even know why they’re feeling sad or low but to ignore it is not good enough.

Children spend as long at school each day as we spend working in the office. If we are acting up and moody or low, a good team or manager who knows us pretty well, will ask if everything’s okay.Sometimes it’s ignored but generally it is noticed. Often adults keep out of it, not wanting to be nosy. If work performance is affected, we will be asked to explain ourselves. Being adults/grownups, we would be expected to give a reasonable explanation and being older, one would assume that the emotions could be controlled but the situation is more than likely understood in an adult perspective and can be articulated and dealt with more readily than with our young’uns. Children don’t always understand what’s going on around them in the world of their adults. There may be arguing in the home and the child may be affected by this but not know or understand this. It may take some gentle delving to find out how things are at home – considering this is where children spend most of their time outside of school, it’s a good place to start. Teachers are allowed to ask these questions, aren’t they? If there is a potential safeguarding issue then surely the rules of safeguarding apply?

What I’ve found in my research of CSE has been beyond comprehension. Not only what has happened to children who’ve been abused, but how little is being done to prevent these crimes from continuing to happen.

My journey is personal. My children were targeted by a paternal relative. There was no help for them because I was deemed by all the professionals to be “taking care of things extremely well”.

I pushed and pushed for help, which I felt I really needed as a single mother, especially because I didn’t know what to do and who to speak to. Was I doing it right? Would social services try to take my children away?

Doctors, CAMHS, school nurse, school family counsellor, community police, local counsellors and MPs – all were unable to offer the support, advice and representation to protect my children. All because I was competent.

This was the beginning of my child sexual exploitation and prevention of child abuse advocacy. My mission is to reach as many parents, teachers, adults and children of all ages, with the goal of educating all in the many ways that children can be protected.